


Things We Lost In The Fire

by lattay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-13 01:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11748927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lattay/pseuds/lattay
Summary: A short oneshot firefighter Shiro AU that took a heavier route than I had originally planned.Title comes from Bastille's "Things We Lost In The Fire."





	Things We Lost In The Fire

The key in Shiro’s hand feels like it weighs a hundred pounds as he unlocks the door to his small apartment. It’s dark and echoey, the already small space feeling even more constricting tonight. He’s in regular athletic wear, but he can still feel his uniform weighing down on his shoulders as he sinks onto his green corduroy armchair. His job is like a phantom that never ceases to haunt him. The moment he closes his eyes, he sees the same scene he sees almost every day. 

Orange flames licking at his boots, the heat suffocating him as he tries to maneuver his way through the blazing building. He sees the panicked eyes of the people he saves. They panic as they realize where they are and what’s happening. They panic when they realize what’s being lost to the flames. 

There’s a reason that Shiro’s the best firefighter at the station. It’s not his bravery, or his strength like the others would have him believe, it’s his fear. His fear that he won’t be able to save the people trapped inside the burning building when finding them takes even a second longer than he thinks it should. His fear that he won’t be able to get them out, like he couldn’t get his own friends out of that blaze so long ago.

He sees himself in their eyes.

He relives the accident every time he plunges into the flames; breathing heavy, heart pounding in his ears. It’s when he can’t see the people he needs to save that he starts to lose his cool. It’s when the shapes in the flames blur together that he’s not sure if he’s seeing the present or if he’s hallucinating the past. In moments where the panic takes control of him, Shiro mutters his old captain’s advice to himself; it’s an endless chant of patience yields focus running through his mind, and when it stops working, he starts hearing the ghosts of his friends calling his name.

When he opens his eyes again, he’s relieved to find himself sitting in darkness.

He’s lost too many things to the fire.

He can’t lose himself.


End file.
